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#1
Edible Plants / Re: Seed Saving Circle 2026
Last post by galina - Today at 09:42:31

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Thanks for the references. I don't get a photo of peppers hanging down; just two picked peppers. Am I missing something? Interestingly the peppers in the two sources look rather different, the first smoother that the second.
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https://www.ukchilliseeds.co.uk/Dong-Xuan-Market-Rare-Chilli-Pepper-Seeds-x-10

Sorry I forgot to answer.  Scroll down a bit and click on the second photo with the yellow fruit.

#2
Edible Plants / Re: Seed Saving Circle 2026
Last post by galina - Today at 09:33:44
Quote from: JanG on September 01, 2026, 07:19:51I'm very keen to grow this again. Its keeping qualities are amazing and so good to keep it going. Great that you've managed to hand pollinate it, Galina.

This is how the fruit starts off, a rich forest green on a young fruit.  Its neighbour has almost reached full storage colour.   My two plants have long outgrown their allocated bed and they are scrambling over the adjacent grass area.  This squash is vigorous and needs its space. 

#3
Edible Plants / Re: Seed Saving Circle 2026
Last post by galina - Today at 09:28:10
We are going to be in for some treats.  And thank you Jeannine again for your generosity and Jan for passing the joy on to all of us.  MR looking forward to these minis.  The Christmas Tree mini has done rather well here and the surprisingly large fruit did look like large baubles on a Christmas tree.   
#4
Edible Plants / Re: Seed Saving Circle 2026
Last post by JanG - Today at 08:08:13
Great to have such a wonderful range of tomatoes in prospect. Many thanks to Galina and Markfield Rover. It looks like it's going to be another bonanza year for tomatoes. I know Old Wyandotte is a great tomato and the others to me are all new surprises.

I have a few to add myself. I've mentioned before the amazing selection of tomato seeds I was sent from Canada by the ever generous Jeannine who some of you know from earlier days of A4A. The three varieties I've grown this year are Buratino, which I've already mentioned and posted a photo of, Mushroom Basket and Vintage Wine.All are beautiful, Mushroom Basket being large and ribbed and Vintage Wine beautifully striped. I very much want to contribute to these varieties being more widely distributed as I know Jeannine would want.

In addition I'm hoping to contribute Yusupovskiy S. Fergany, a tomato from Uzbekistan developed around 1960. The origin of the name seems to be unclear but an original Yusupov tomato was developed by one Yusupov in a research station and Yusupov himself apparently published a book about his tomato. This particular line apparently came from Fergana in Uzbekistan at a later date. It's a very large, pinkish slicing tomato.

Anna Russian is an heirloom oxheart variety. The history is that it was sent to Craig LeHoullier in 1989 from Brenda Hillenius, of Oregon, who got the seeds from her grandfather, Kenneth Wilcox, who received seeds from a Russian immigrant. Craig LeHoullier introduced it to the SSE Yearbook in 1989.
It's an excellent early maturing pinkish-red heart-shaped tomato with a good juicy traditional tomato flavour.

Orange Banana is a fairly widely available, variety, good for sauces etc. as it's meaty and quite pasty. It's productive and quite unusual to have a yellowish variety for making sauce. It's a Russian heirloom dating back to the 1930s introduced to the US via Seed Savers.

I received seeds of all three of these from a seed swap with a different Canadian donor. Photos to follow.
#5
Edible Plants / Re: Seed Saving Circle 2026
Last post by markfield rover - September 07, 2026, 14:01:07
Some more tomatoes, micro dwarf... Orange Hat and Fat Frog , enjoyed growing these more than I thought I would, a very handy tomato.
#6
Edible Plants / Re: Seed Saving Circle 2026
Last post by galina - September 07, 2026, 12:46:54
A few more tomatoes.  Old Wyandotte.  My original seed was bought from the now long defunct USA heirloom seed company Seeds Blüm.  Each of the huge beefsteaks weighs around a pound, but their flavour is something else.  A bit of catfacing, so had to trim a little off the bottoms, maybe due to the extreme heat we had at times.  Mid to late season, so maybe better in the greenhouse in UK. But I never had problems ripening them in UK either.   https://www.tomatofest.com/Old_Wyandotte_p/tf-0351.htm

Onkel Gustav.  Ie uncle Gustav, a north German heritage cherry tomato, very early, easy to grow, very sweet and robust.  My seeds were from seed saver Peter Szekeres, who sent me a surprise seed package during Covid, when seed swaps had to be cancelled.   https://www.tomatenjunkie.de/onkel-gustav/

Aranyalma is a HSL variety, which we got in the seed circle from AJ in 2012.  A really productive salad type yellow tomato, very high yielding.  The name is Hungarian for Gold Apple. 

And another photo of Reisetomate, as I harvested a lot yesterday and took another lot of seeds.


#7
Edible Plants / Re: Seed Saving Circle 2026
Last post by galina - September 05, 2026, 12:59:04
There is a short tomato seed saving instruction at the bottom of this page.  https://realseeds.co.uk/tomatoes_vines.html
#8
Edible Plants / Re: Seed Saving Circle 2026
Last post by JanG - September 05, 2026, 06:47:37
Quote from: lezelle on September 04, 2026, 15:07:46Hi Ya, After a few problems and hospital stays I am starting to come round but still on loads of pills. Anyway by the by. I was reading a magazine and this month had a item on seed saving. I thought what agood thing I have saved a few seeds over time and done ok. I saw when shopping some really big tomatoes and thought they look good and bought two and picked out the seeds as they said and started wondering if any one else has had positive outcomes doing the same thing. I have them ready and looking forward to giving them a go next season.

The usual way of dealing with tomato seeds is to put them in a small amount of water for three or four days to let them ferment. This removes the gel which can inhibit germination. Then let them dry for a week or two before putting them in a packet.

Good luck with your seed saving. It's a great thing to do!
#9
Edible Plants / Re: Seed Saving Circle 2026
Last post by lezelle - September 04, 2026, 15:07:46
Hi Ya, After a few problems and hospital stays I am starting to come round but still on loads of pills. Anyway by the by. I was reading a magazine and this month had a item on seed saving. I thought what agood thing I have saved a few seeds over time and done ok. I saw when shopping some really big tomatoes and thought they look good and bought two and picked out the seeds as they said and started wondering if any one else has had positive outcomes doing the same thing. I have them ready and looking forward to giving them a go next season.
#10
Edible Plants / Re: Seed Saving Circle 2026
Last post by JanG - September 04, 2026, 06:53:16
Quote from: galina on September 03, 2026, 14:53:45
Quote from: Vetivert on September 03, 2026, 13:54:55Thanks for the feedback Jan. My plant looks quite different. Fruit are smooth, small and hang straight down! I'll get a photo later today

Airtable info to the rescue.  https://www.vreeken.nl/208175-peper-dong-xuan-market

While their photo does not show fruit on the plant, their fruit does look different. 

Here they are actually hanging  down on the plant.
https://www.ukchilliseeds.co.uk/Dong-Xuan-Market-Rare-Chilli-Pepper-Seeds-x-10
 

Thanks for the references. I don't get a photo of peppers hanging down; just two picked peppers. Am I missing something? Interestingly the peppers in the two sources look rather different, the first smoother that the second.
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